Direct public support for business R&D is a well-established remedy to market failures, yet empirical evidence on its effectiveness yields conflicting results. The paper investigates the impact of the first European public R&D grant program targeting small and medium enterprises (i.e. the SME...

The COVID-19 pandemic presented great challenges, but also opportunities, to SMEs across Europe. We examine how the "European Innovation Champions" successfully absorbed and reacted to the shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Five different paradoxical behaviors (i.e., planning, liquidity,...

Financial constraints can severely limit the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and are very likely to affect innovative firms. In order to lower the barriers to firm growth, in 2014 the European Commission introduced the SME Instrument with the specific aim to support...